Sports

New York Giants Tackle In-House Video Production at New Training Facility with Sony High-Definition Technologies
Studio Cameras, Optical Camcorders, Switchers, Displays and Decks to Capture and Produce Highlight Videos, In-game Video Elements, Web Content and More

The New York Giants will prepare for the 2009 football season in a new training facility fully equipped with Sony professional high-definition production technology.

The Sony HD equipment will be used by the team's entertainment group to produce a range of fan-targeted content, according to the team. The facility is set to open in June within the Meadowlands Sports Complex where the Giants play home games, and will house a full HD control room including Sony HDC-1400 studio cameras, an MFS-2000 production switcher, HDCAM® decks, and LUMA® LCD monitors.

In addition, several of Sony's XDCAM® HD422 optical camcorders, model PDW-700, will be used as EFP cameras to capture a variety of video elements for team and fan enjoyment. XDCAM HD decks will also serve as the Giants' "house" recording format.

"As an organization, we always try to stay on the cutting edge," said Mike Stevens, senior vice president/chief marketing officer at the New York Giants. "This approach not only applies to the team we put on the field and our training methods, but also to the technology we use to create entertainment content with the highest level of production values for our fans. These systems fit our needs perfectly and will make our video production extremely efficient."

The new HD control room will handle a range of video production, according to the Giants, including developing content for playback on video and LED screens during games, video features and podcasts for the team web site, interviews with players and coaches, original programming, highlight videos, specials, PSA's, and promotional spots.

In-game video will be produced for the current Giants Stadium, as well as for the new state-of-the-art stadium being built for the 2010 season. According to Don Sperling, vice president/executive producer, the team will need more HD content and enhanced technical capabilities, especially as its video production requirements increase with future growth.

"We were looking for a strong internal video production system as well as increased video capture flexibility," he said. "Sony's state-of-the-art HD technologies were a logical choice for us both now and in the long term."

The team's video production department will use the XDCAM HD optical camcorders and decks to shoot and edit a variety of video elements.

According to Sperling, the XDCAM system allows crews to capture high-quality footage from which they can easily edit. He added that the system's optical workflow, superb image quality and longer archival capabilities of the Professional Disc™ media were the main reasons for choosing the system.

"The system's ability to do file transfers without having to first digitize data is a big time-saver," he said. "We can bring clips directly into our NLE system, start editing and very quickly have finished spots that we can use, internally or externally."

The new training facility will also feature several of Sony's VPL-FX52 LCD projectors for use by the coaching staff to review game video, analyze practices and critique footage of their opponents.